Title: Children, Go Where I Send You
Rating: PG-13, for this chapter
Pairing:AxR
Disclaimer: I don't own Witch Hunter Robin, but I do own this fanfiction's plot as well as a few of the characters, like Dan. Flames keep this little semi-anemic girl toasty.
Chapter 5: To Love Somebody
There' a light
A certain kind of light
It's never shown on me
I want my whole life to be
Lived with you
Lived with you
There's a way
Everybody says
Do each and every thing
What good does it bring
If I ain't got you If I ain't got you
If I ain't got you If I ain't got you
You don't know
What it's like
Baby you don't
What it's like
To love somebody
To love somebody
The way I love you
In my brain
See your face again
I know my frame of mind
You ain't got to be so blind
And I'm blind so blind
But I'm a woman
Can't you see what I am
I live and breathe for you
What good does it do
If I ain't got you If I ain't got you
If I ain't got you If I ain't got you
Say you don't know
What it's like
Baby you don't know what it's like
To love somebody
To love somebody
The way I love you
Oh no, no, no, no, you don't know
What it's like
Baby you don't know
To love somebody
To love somebody
The way I love you
Amon stood with the frying pan in one hand, a cigarette in the other when Robin woke up the following morning. They had gotten home extremely late and both had crashed into their respective beds without much thought. Robin was usually the first up, followed very closely by Amon, who's keen Hunter hearing picked up the sound of the running water.
"Morning," she mumbled, putting the teakettle on. The house didn't have a coffee maker, so she simply decided to drink tea so she wouldn't bother Amon.
He was slightly perturbed by some stubborn eggs, it seemed, taking the occasional furious puff on the cigarette. Robin stretched and came over, quietly.
"Do you need help with those eggs?"
"No."
"Hai," she didn't need to have precognition to know she'd end up fixing the eggs. Robin went over to the fridge and took out the orange juice, and snuck a peek at the frying pan. "Amon!"
His head snapped up, the expression that always came over him when he was Hunting exceedingly visible. "Where?"
She bit her lip. "No…you're ruining the eggs." She slipped in on his left side, since Amon had just started to reach back for his gun. Somehow, between the stovetop and Amon, there was room. She poked and flipped, until she was happy that she had rescued them enough for her to be able to leave them for a minute without having to look at them.
"Pretty good."
She nearly jumped. He hadn't moved, and it was only now that she felt his breath on the back of her neck. She could smell the cigarette smoke.
"You shouldn't be smoking. It's bad for you, Amon."
"The occasional one can't hurt." He was in a downright cheerful mood, she realized. Was it the absence of his older bother?
"I could never kiss a man who smokes," it came out without her thinking. She heard a chuckle, and he appeared at her side, leaning on the counter.
"Really?"
She licked her lips, the closeness unsettling. "Really."
He opened his mouth to say something, but the teakettle started whistling, and Robin quickly went to make her tea.
Amon felt like a prick. Not only was he dreaming about her, but…
She was so close right then. He could smell her shampoo and the leftover smell of the road from the night before. He'd wanted her.
He brought the cigarette to his lips, but then he looked over at the young woman busily making her tea, and then took an extra glass that was sitting on the table and smashed it out.
'I take back what I said about smokers'. She'd said it so lazily in his dream…so at ease. Could it really be the person who just turned as red as the mug she was now placing her tea in?
Yes.
Robin took the eggs out of the pan and put one on each of their plates. He made a small sound of acknowledgement to signify thanks. Robin started to delicately poke at her eggs, drawing herself up in the chair.
She was going to say something.
"Yes?" She was biting her lip as he asked.
"Do you think, since…since we've reached a bit of a dead end everything…"
"I'm working on it," he said shortly.
She looked down. "They're having a festival down in town. For Christmas."
He nodded. "Do you want to go?"
She blushed, and he guessed all those years of being taught to be faithful had left her with an embarrassment when it came to requesting frivolous things. "Well, if it's alright," she mumbled.
He didn't look up, trying to mask his smile by letting his hair fall into his face. "I guess it would be fine." Quite frankly, it was one of his favorite things about this town. For the short time he lived here before he was recruited to train, he'd lived with an aunt in town who'd taken pity on her poor, motherless nephew. He had planned on asking her shortly, anyway, if she wished to go.
He could tell she was sick of being in the house, and she had memorized her way through the house with her eyes closed.
"Domo arigato gozaimasu, Amon!" She smiled, trying to make her teeth show as she turned to put her dish in the sink. He followed.
"Nagira said to show teeth?"
She nodded. " He said I'd fit in-"
"He never fit in here in the first place because he isn't from here, Robin. Don't try to change yourself because some idiot asks you to."
Robin looked upset. "How did you know he said to cutting my hair?"
He looked over at her. She was cutting her hair? "I didn't. But don't."
She took a handful and studied it. "Why? It just gets in the way."
Amon couldn't help himself. He reached out a hand and ran his finger over a few strands of the dark golden silk. He was so close he could hear her short intake of breath as he simply stared at it in his hand. He looked at her, in a way he hoped was devoid of emotion.
"Just don't." Amon let go of the captive tendril and turned.
His gut clenched, and he could feel his heart beating faster. Amon walked out of the room as quickly as he could.
What had just happened?
Robin stared at her hands, shaking for reasons she didn't want to think about. Oh, but those eyes…
Robin knew what love was. It was the ever-present, no-conditions support and strength she gained from God. When others told her they were in love, she was amazed how they could confuse someone who made love well with someone who'd forgive them for wrecking the car or for having affair.
He had looked at her in a way that she'd only seen a few times before, when Sakaki had stared at Karasuma. Karasuma had, just before the ambush, told her that she and Sakaki where dating. She remembered one of them fairly well:
Sakaki had been sitting next to hear as they worked on typing up their latest reports, and he looked up at Karasuma, who was across the office, out of distance enough for his quiet conversation with Robin not to be heard.
"How are things between you two?" she asked, whispering.
"Just great."
"Good."
She went back to typing, as did he. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his head snap up as Karasuma walk by, a small, coy smile flashing across her lips as she passed. He exhaled, his eyelids lowering slightly as his eyes clouded with something she never had seen. "God," he breathed, "I want her." His eyes widened as he realized he said it out loud. "Oh, um, I'm sorry!"
Robin slowly went back to work.
Right now, however, it was not as possible to go back to work. Not only because there really wasn't work to go to, but also because she hadn't been watching this time. She had been the one stared at. The one…
Wanted. The word made her stomach churn and feel warm.
She wasn't quite sure if it was a passing attraction, or the sort that would always be there, filling in the silence, causing that electricity when they touched…
What was she prattling about? All she knew of was what she had read about and what she'd seen. Robin was a naïve young woman who barely knew hw to take care of herself, let alone how to respond to the feelings of a man.
Well, she did know about-
She furiously scrubbed at the pan, the eggs mostly gone but still in need of her attention.
That was a bridge to be crossed when they came upon it.
But part of her hoped they would come across it.
The thin sheets of paper lay on the desk in front of him, taunting him as he sat on the edge of his bed. He'd just finished wrapping her present.
He'd felt strange buying it, since he'd never actually bought a present for anyone as an adult. The last person he had ever purchased a gift for was his mother when he was little. Swallowing the small stone in his throat, he got up and looked at the papers.
So thin, so delicate and yet they had the profound effect of stating when one was to die.
He hated them.
A few words and suddenly the young witch's life was gone.
He heard Robin's light tread on the stairs, and he grabbed a blanket and through it across the box on his bed, sticking it in the dark corner of the room.
"Amon?"
"I'm in my room. Yes?"
"I was wondering when we'd be-"
"We'll leave around six. It's not even eleven right now."
She nodded, and then glanced at her doorway. "I suppose I have some cleaning to do. I've barely touched the parlor or the hallway."
"Can't let them stay dirty."
"No, I can't," she said seriously. He had meant it sarcastically, but she had already turned and started to take cleaning supplies from the bathroom.
"It's five days until Christmas, Robin," he said, exasperated. For an extremely clever witch, she had barely a sense of humor. "Take a break. The only person who might be here is Nagira or a Hunter."
Robin straightened up. "That's not funny, Amon."
Amon shrugged and went back to his room.
Robin tugged the scarf around her neck tighter, hurrying to keep up with Amon. She'd given up walking abreast with him a while ago, since the thick snow had frozen. Up until today she hadn't had much trouble with the dusting, but tonight, with the town's members all anticipating Christmas, God had chosen to grace them with a holiday card-perfect covering.
From even here, she could see the pristine white on the large tree in the center of town, small lights glowing in various spots from below, causing the snow to glow with color.
"It's pretty," she said quietly, her breath coming out in a thicker cloud; it then mingled with the one from Amon's breath when he made a small sound of agreement.
They crossed the small bridge and suddenly they were submersed in light and snow. The smell of spices reminded her of the kitchens at the abbey.
"It's not Harry's," he said as they entered the pub, and soon Robin was sitting, drinking coffee.
"Amon!" he turned around and Robin's attention was focused on a furiously waving hand.
It was Dan, making his way while dragging someone behind him. Amon turned back around and groaned, which caused Robin to let out a giggle. He'd never been as open before with her, and she hoped it wasn't because of the growing collection of empty glasses on the table.
A twenty-something year old woman gave them a smile as Dan ushered her over to the table. The couple sat down.
"So, what do you think about our little celebration, Hope?" Dan asked, grinning.
"It's lovely, from what I've seen of it so far."
It was bland talk that lasted for a while, and Amon seemed to be too loud for himself. Robin excused them, paid, and started them outside. He mumbled a thank you.
He was already mentally cursing himself for getting drunk. Amon knew it could lead to problems. He tried to push the haze as far out of his way as possible as they walked, or stumbled, in his case, towards the outskirts of town.
They'd barely made a dent in the path home when he felt it, the rushing in his veins and the feeling of loosing control. He didn't like it.
He struggled, and it took so much energy that he had to stop walking. It swallowed him and suddenly the darkness took him over.
They stood so close; the darkness of the small apartment surprised him. A look up at the slanting roof told him they were in his brother's office.
'We'll stay here for tonight,' he heard himself say, and Robin looked at him wearily as she wound her arms around his waist. It felt natural. He rested his head on hers.
'Can you believe it's only been-'
'A month, I know' he murmured into her hair. 'Jul-'
The door opened, and Robin gasped.
Amon whipped around, and stared at Michael.
"Amon," he looked down at her concerned eyes, so green and wide, like hers in his vision. "What did you see?"
"Us…Nagira's apartment. Michael walked in."
"So we're going to be found," she said quietly.
He slid down the wall, and Robin followed him. He rested his head back and let the snow hit his face, searching for clarity from the drink and the vision. "I don't know yet, Robin. Just, sit with me, please."
If she stayed near by, then he knew there was a lesser chance of something happening to her. She was compliant.
She snuggled close; the frigid December air was biting in this alleyway, which seemed to be some sort of accidental wind tunnel.
They'd never really been this close to one another, save for when he helped her escape from Raven's Flat. Then, as now, he noticed the little freckles that dusted her cheeks, the length of her lashes and the deepness of her eyes. So green. His eyes trailed lower. Those lips…
They were suddenly on his, and for a moment he let himself feel just how soft they were, but then the very sensible part of him took over and he jerked away.
"T-tbrón orm, Robin," he said as he got up, shakily. Robin tried to give him a hand, but he brushed her off.
Robin heard Amon say something when they got into the house, but she tore up the stairs faster than she'd ever gone before. Door shut, locked, and given a throrough kick, Robin fell onto her bed, and let the tears that had been forced back the entire walk home out.
She knew he could hear on the other side, but there wasn't anything she could, or wanted to do about it.
A.N. Ah, vacations! Sorry I was gone for a week, but I was spending a marvelous and much needed vacation in South Jersey. For once, I got to be a bennie and piss people off. I'd never have guessed it would be therapy for years of repressed anger at idiots who tie up traffic in my town. Hee.
I don't look dead anymore, which is-a start in the right direction. I keep doing double takes everytime I see me in the mirror. Me? With a color other than off white? Strange, I tell you. Sunburn sucks though. Gah.
I've forgotten to mention that the house Amon and Robin are staying in is an actual house. I found it while seaching on the internet. I'm probably going to create a 3d model of what my version of the house looks like, since I had to modify it slighly. No tennis court in mine, and rooms are….different. It may take a while. I'll need to brush up with my CAD skills. The little that I have.
I promise much MUCH more fluff coming up soon. Right now, however, I have a date with a certain Jareth, King of the Goblins. Hee.
Clyde007: You're sweet, thank you. I promise, I won't keep you waiting.
Tsukinoko1: Gah. You found it. That stupid mistake I had THOUGHT I fixed, but apperently didn't. It's one of her other powers, the one they just couldn't figure out how to stick in the story. And the tombs? They are an actual place in Ireland. It took a while to find where they actually were, so there were blanks in my writing for a while. Writing has been found in them, and well, I kinda embelished. They were there to validate the wrting that was transcribed from those inscriptions. I just checked, and the chappy's all there.
Misa-sama: Yes, I do. I didn't particularly like the song itsself, but the title is what I needed.
Angel452: (smoke appears) All will be answered in the future…
lily: Thank you very much for appreciating my little rant…I just needed to get that out there.
indirockqueen: You know, I really would like to know the name of the prophet, too…I miss him, too…wah.
Meyu: Thank you! I will!
Isis: Sorry this wasn't so soon!