Chapter Twenty-One:

Time to Return

Disclaimer:You know it, you follow it, so I don't have to write it. :)

Kitten lounged lazily on the bed, the remote resting in her right hand as she pressed the buttons with her thumb. Television stations flashed by quickly.

The young girl yawned, clearly bored out of her mind.

Bree walked out of the bathroom, a drying her long, black hair with a towel. Her expression was blank. After a couple of seconds, she raised her right arms and sniffed at her armpit. Her nose immediately wrinkled.

"I still can't believe that I fell in that damn alleyway! Why didn't you at least tell me that there was a trashcan in front of me, Kitten?" Bree inquired as she turned her sour glare on to the other girl.

Kitten just shrugged, continuing to press on the channel button.

Bree scoffed exasperatedly and sat down on the end of the bed that was the nearest to the door. She then resumed drying her hair.

Rain stood by the window that looked out over the busy city streets; her own features glum. One of her hands was being used as a chin rest. Her other arm was cossed over her chest.

Andy leaned against the wall that was next to the television set. His own arms were crossed over his chest as well. He had a smirk spread across his face, as if he knew something that the other three didn't.

"You've been doing that for quite awhile. If you're not careful, you're probably going to get stuck like that." He said as he pushed himself away from the wall and walking over to stand next to his captain.

Rain gave the boy a customary side-glance, smiling blandly as she brought a slim finger up to her lips and chewed nervously on her nail.

"Yes, I know. I'm just a little riled right now. Ian hasn't come back, yet. And I'm also just really worried about Robin." She explained, bringing her finger away to see how much of her nail she had managed to bite off so far.

Andy sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against the cool glass of the window.

"Yeah, I know. I am, too. That doesn't mean we all have to lose our heads, though. Especially you. We need your head to stay on your shoulders." He said, pausing to raise his gaze to her. He brought up one of his hands and placed it on the top of her head, patting her mahogany hair. "If we're going to follow your orders, Rain, you've got to clear your mind. Things will get better. You'll see." He added as smiled.

Rain smiled back, her eyes shimmering with a new respect for the man next to her.

"Thanks, Andy. I really needed that. Sometimes I think that you'd make a better leader than I do." She admitted shyly, a small blush appearing in her cheeks.

Andy grinned like a five-year-old. Apparently, this was the first time someone every really gave him a compliment.

"No problem." He said with a two-finger salute. Rain just sighed.

A soft knock suddenly caught everyone's attention, causing them all to jump slightly and look directly at the door.

Bree stood up first and made her way towards the door. Grabbing onto the large, brass doorknob, she quickly pulled it open.

Standing out in the hallway and holding a large, brown knapsack in her arms was a young girl. Her chestnut colored hair ended just past her shoulders and was covered by a black baseball cap. Dark sunglasses took up about half of her face. She had on a satin, blue blouse and a dark blue jeans. Slim, ankle-boots hid her small feet from veiw.

The girl raised a hand to her face and removed the sunglasses, revealing soft, emerald eyes. She smiled sheepishly.

"Good-morning, everyone." She greeted softly, getting scowls from everyone in the room.

Rain paced in front of the bed that was nearest to the door. Her expression was not a happy one as she focused it on her victim.

And, of course, the victim happened to be Robin...

The young witch was sitting at the end of the bed, watching with nervous eyes as the older woman continued to pace back and fourth a few feet in front of her.

"Would you please stop, Rain? You're really giving me a headache." Bree moaned as she flopped back on to the pillows. She had been sitting behind Robin the whole time, so it would probably give anyone a good idea about how long she had watched her captain pace.

Rain ignored her and carried on with her endless pacing. Her eyes were still focused on Robin sitting on the end of the bed.

The chestnut-haired girl tried to stare determindedly back into the piercing almond eyes that were watching her so intently. It didn't take long for her to finally crack, however, and she had to lowered her eyes to the baseball cap resting her lap.

Rain at last stopped pacing, stopping right in front of Robin. Her features had gone from being just unhappy to down right angry.

"What in the hell were you thinking, Robin!? Going out there all by yourself! You've could have been killed! If Amon hadn't have been there with you -- I -- I just don't know what I would have done!" She shouted, watching mercilessly as said girl flinched at her harsh words.

"Uh, Rain...remember what I said about not losing your head --" Andy tried to say as Rain turned her death glare on him.

"Oh, put a sock in it, Andy! We both know what Robin did was wrong!" She shouted, almond eyes blazing.

Andy nodded calmly and walked over to his captain, putting his arm around her heaving shoulders.

"Yes, I know it was. I think she's been punished enough, though. Look at her." He said, gesturing to the young witch.

Rain surprisingly did as she was told and turned to look at Robin, her face falling when she saw how pitiful she looked. The younger girl had her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms were wrapped tightly around them. Tears were in her eyes.

Kitten and Bree sat on either side of Robin. Kitten was trying her best to comfort her by embracing her around the neck and letting her cry into her own shoulder. Bree was rubbing her back reassuringly.

"Nice job, Miss. Bitchy McBitch." The dark-haired witch snapped, turning her angry gaze upon Rain.

Rain avoided both the look and the insult as she hesitantly made her way over to Robin. After a few tense moments, she stopped and bent down to her knees, grasping on to the young witch's hands.

"I-I'm sorry, Robin." She breathed, causing said girl to jerk up her gaze. "I know it's hard for to lose Amon, but you must also know that what you did was wrong." She added after a few seconds.

Robin sniffed back her tears and nodded slowly. Her face was still grim, though.

"Well, next time something like this happens, tell us. Okay?" Rain said, trying to reach a good compromise.

Robin thought about this for a moment before finally nodding her head. Her eyes still held tears in them, however.

"Amon..." She breathed, bringing her teeth out to bite at her bottom lip.

Rain frowned, cocking her head to the right a little. She suddenly gasped as Robin broke down into tears. It was as if the terrible truth had just fallen down on her.

"Amon...I told him not to stay behind -- he wouldn't listen to me...why didn't he? Why didn't he just come with me?" The young witch sobbed, burying her face once again into Kitten's shoulder.

Rain exchanged a forlorn glance with Andy before turning and patting Robin on her head.

"Hey, it's alright. Maybe he's not as badly hurt as you think he is." She whispered softly, though not sure whether her words were true or not.

Robin continued to sob, her shoulders shaking as she continued to moan Amon's name.

Everyone remained silent for a few moments, letting Robin have a good cry. After a little bit, the chestnut-haired girl was finally able to calm down. She raised her head heavily, gazing up into Rain's eyes.

"Rain...what should I do?" She breathed, lowering her eyes to the floor, as if it were suddenly something of interest.

The older woman shrugged her lean shoulders.

"I'm not sure Robin, but I'll tell what we could do." She said, getting her attention with this statement. "Perhaps we can look for him. You know, look for clues back at the theater you told us about. That sort of thing." She added, a smile spreading across her face.

Robin mirrored this move, a large grin taking the place of the unhappy frown that had been there before.

"Oh, Rain! Would you really do that?" She inquired excitedly, laughing and embracing Kitten around the neck when the mahogony-haired woman nodded.

"You shouldn't get your hopes up, though." Andy suddenly pointed out, ruining Robin's little celebration and getting everyone to turn to him. "I mean, for all you know, Amon could be laying dead in a ditch somewhere. All I'm saying is, you probably shouldn't get so excited, yet." He added.

Bree scoffed at this, as if the idea of Amon possibly being dead was a fool's hope.

"Ah, come on, Andy! Where's your sense of faith? I mean, this Amon guy sounds like a really tough person. I'm pretty sure a few, petty bullets wouldn't bring him down. Right, Robin?" She said, putting an arm around Robin's shoulders and smiling.

Robin grinned and nodded in agreement.

Andy huffed almost arrogently and turned away from everyone.

"Fine. If you want to look for him, you can, but don't come crying to me when you find --" He paused, being interrupted by a distant ringing coming from somewhere in the room. He looked down at Rain.

"Is that your cellphone ringing or mine?" He asked, getting a shrug and a shake of the head.

"Oh, that's mine." Robin suddenly said, reaching into her knapsack and pulling out a strange-looking, communicatorlike device. Her voice was soft, as if she couldn't believe that someone was actually calling her.

After pressing a couple of buttons, the young witch held the phone to her ear.

"Hello..." She breathed into the mouthpiece, mentally begging herself that it would be Amon telling her he was alright.

"Hello? Robin?" A voice that was very much different from Amon's low drone answered, dashing away all of her hopes. She was happy to hear the familiar voice, however.

"Michael? Michael, is that you?" She asked, her excitement returning. The static in her phone buzzed for a second before the hacker answered.

"Yeah, it's me. How have you been, Robin? All of us have been worried sick about you." The boy inquired. His voice sounded cracked, as if he hadn't gotten much sleep last night.

"I-I guess I'm alright. I could be better." She paused here, grabbing a piece of her hair and twirling it around her finger. "Uh, Michael... Can I ask you something?" She added after a few seconds.

Sure. Anything." Michael answered truthfully, becoming silent so as to let her talk.

Robin bit at her bottom lip again, chewing the soft skin.

"M-Michael...has--Amon called you any time today? Or is he there with you, perhaps?" She questioned timidly, her fingers crossing. She was met by a couple moments of silence before she finally heard the hacker sigh.

"I'm sorry, Robin, I haven't. In fact, that's kind of why I called you. You see, Amon's been missing since last night and we can't seem to reach him. The others and I kind of thought since you're obviously back in Japan, that maybe he was with you." Michael answered as he took a breath of air after talking so much.

Robin's face turned ghostly pale and looked almost like she was going to throw up. Her limbs were shaking violently and her voice cracked as she spoke.

"N-no. He's not with me...or at least, not any more." She said a little haltingly, her eyes narrowing slightly as she tried to keep back tears.

What do you mean?" Michael asked firmly, clearly interested.

Robin gulped, her skin becoming just a little bit paler as she continued.

"Well, you see, he was with me for awhile last night. We met one another at Harry's." She paused when Michael interrupted her with a sentence that sounded like, "There's my answer as to why he left so quickly" .She thought for a moment about what he meant before carrying on.

"Well, as it turned out, we were being followed the whole time by SOLOMON and had to run for our lives. I -- I kind of lost Amon in the escape..." She said, trailing off. She really didn't want to tell Michael the whole story right then.

"I see... I think it would be better if you came over here, Robin. Just to be on the safe side. Maybe if Amon's still has his cellphone, we can track him. Sakaki will pick you up. Where are you staying?" The hacker implored quietly, pausing as he waited for Robin to answer.

Robin remained silent for a few moments, glancing up at her friends crowding around her and trying to listen in on her phonecall. After a second, she smiled. She pressed the reciever to her ear.

"Hey, Michael...is it alright if I bring a few friends along?"

Sakaki parked his motorcycle next to the curb, trying hard not to brush against the concrete. Karasuma pulled up a few seconds later in her car. Both of them then looked up distastefully at the shabby hotel.

"Is this really what Robin has been staying in these past few days?" He asked, his voice muffled from being caught inside his helmet.

Karasuma just shrugged, opening the door to her car and stepping out. She had barely even closed the door behind her when a girl in a black dress and strange pigtails came running out of the front enterence. Her green eyes were bright with excitement and she was smiling widely.

"Karasuma! Sakaki!" She cried, barreling into Miho and wrapping her arms around her waist.

The older woman chuckled and hugged Robin tightly around her shoulders.

"Oh, it's really good to see you, Robin." She murmured, giving the young witch one last squeeze before releasing her.

Robin nodded, showing that she thought the same. After a couple of seconds, she giggled girlishly and ran over to Haruto; arms outstretched.

"Sakaki!" She called out, jumping into his arms and flinging her own around his neck. Sakaki chuckled softly, picking her up off of her feet and twirling her around a couple of times.

"Hey, Robin. How've you been?" He asked, placing her back on the sidewalk.

Robin just shrugged quickly and glanced back and fourth between the both of them, as if she wasn't sure which one to look at.

"I'm fine. I'm just so happy to see the both of you. I heard you were dating." She said, gazing at Karauma as if the statement were aimed at her.

Miho shrugged, a blush appearing in her cheeks.

"Well, kind of. Who told you that, any way?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Amon did. I'm very happy for you two." Robin replied softly, turning back to Sakaki as she said this. Though she didn't show it, saying the ex-hunter's name clearly made her slighty upset.

Karasuma frowned deeply at this, risking a glance at Sakaki before a sound coming from the hotel entertence made them all turn and look. Three women and a young man had just walked out, bickering over something that none of the other three knew about.

Robin smiled and turned her body so that she was facing the four newcomers.

"Oh, you guys, these are my friends from the STN-J. Miho Karasuma and Haruto Sakaki." She said, gesturning towards the two people next to her.

Rain looked up from arguing with Bree, narrowing her eyes at the said people.

"Hello." She greeted a little venomously, as if she were expecting one of them to pull out a gun at any moment.

Karasuma detected her icy tone and frowned slightly. She eyed the other woman's mahogony hair and almond eyes. She then let her gaze travel down to her hands, where all of her rings and braclets hung.

"Nice jewelery." She compilmented, trying to make her own voice sound just as poisonous.

Rain, for some reason, perked up at this comment and held up her hand to show off all of her accessories.

"Oh, do you like them? I collect all kinds of unique stuff from other countries. My name's Rain." She said, prancing up to Karasuma and grasping on to her hand.

Karasuma stood rigidly in shock for a moment before regaining her composure and shaking Rain's hand limply.

"Uh --Miho." She suttered, rubbing the back of her head embarrassingly.

"Well, good to see you're not biting someone's head off, Rain." A brown-haired boy said as he came up to greet the two hunters. He smiled at Karasuma, raising his own hand so she could shake it. "Name's Andy, Miss. Miho. Pleased to meet you." He said as he kissed the back of her hand.

Karasuma blushed deeply, almost sighing in relief when Sakaki came over to rescue her.

"Alright, that's enough. She's mine." He said, giving Andy the fish-eye.

Robin giggled as she watched everyone greet each other. She nearly fell over in laughter when Sakaki met Kitten, who flirted with the him like crazy. It took both Bree and Karasuma to pry them away from one another.

After a couple of moments, the young witch finally decided that it was time to step in. She trudged slowly up to Sakaki, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Sakaki, shouldn't we be leaving right now? Michael might start to worry." She said, her face now a serious mask.

The young boy nodded, walking over to his motorcycle and climbing on.

Hearing the conversation, Karasuma finally got her act together and headed for her own car.

"She's right. Let's go." She said as she slipped into the driver's seat. Rain took the passenger seat, while the other three tried their best to squeeze into the back.

After getting comfortable, they all watched through the windshield as Robin timidly placed herself behind Sakaki on his motorbike. Sitting side-saddle, she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

Sakaki waited for her to get herself situated before kick-starting the bike to life.

"Hold on, tight." He said as he quickly shoved his helmet over his head and fastened it. He then took off at breakneck spead with Robin holding on to him for dear life.

Andy watched them travel down to the end of the street and out of sight. His frown was apparent on his face as he turned to look at Karasuma.

"Are you sure it's safe for her to ride on that thing with him driving like that?" He asked, watching as the older woman put the care into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.

Karasuma smiled and nodded, checking for any traffic as she drove on to the street.

"She's been on it before. Don't worry, Sakaki will take care of her." She tried to reassure the long-haired boy.

Andy's frown didn't change.

"Still, I don't feel comfortable with her on the back of that bike. She could fall." He said, being interrupted when he heard Kitten giggle.

"What's wrong, Andy? Jelouse?" She inquired sarcastically as she continued to chuckle under her breath.

Andy let out a huff and quickly tried to change the subect.

"Hey, Rain. What about Ian? Shouldn't we call and tell him to meet us over at this gas station or where ever we're going?" He asked, shooting a glare at Bree when she muttered an insult under her breath at him.

Rain gasped, quickly plunging her hand into her pocket.

"Oh, I completely forgot about him! I'll do that right now." She said as she pulled out her tiger-striped cellphone.

Ian closed his cellphone with a loud snap, putting it in his pocket and gazing up at the sky with silver eyes.

He had just gotten of with Rain. She had told him to meet her and the others at some gas station somewhere in the neighborhood. She didn't say why, just to do it. She had also told him that they had found Robin...

The blonde-haired man grunted as he made his way down the sidewalk. A small, sinister smile was appearing on his lips.

"Everything is going according to plan." He whispered quietly to himself with a eerie chuckle.

Me: Yay! Another chapter posted! ::Does the Disco:: I hope all of you forgive me for the short and boring chapter twenty. I actually kind of like that chapter, but since no bosy else seems to, I'm really sorry. Oh yeah, and Andy is just jealous of Sakaki in a older brother type of way. :)

Angel452: Ian is just a jerk, which is why he did what he did and he's probably crazy enough to do something like it again.

No, Robin doesn't find out about it, but she'll probably eventually fry Ian any way. :)

I think Amon will kick Ian's ass. I just may make him do it. Ah, the joys of being a fanfiction author. ;)

Solaria735: Yeah, but still, even mentioning the idea of Amon dieing in a story would probably get me killed by the Fangirls and their many chainsaws (Those things scare me). ::Shivers::

You are right, though. Perhaps if Amon dieing fit in with the story, it wouldn't be so bad. There aren't many of those stories, though.

Kerigan: Yeah, I made ch.20 chapter short so people could kind of calm down after all of the excitement of ch.19. That chapter is so awesome! Even I can admit that. :)

Amon's Angel of the Darkness: Oh! 'i think you know' is a friend of yours? I didn't know that. Seriously. I'm sorry if I offended you in any way.

Yes, everyone get ticked at this chapter because it's so short and boring. I like it, though. I mean, it gives Robin's thoughts on what happened in ch.19 and plus, Sakaki, Doujima, and Karasuma are back. Yay! And the chapter as some humor in it, so... I'll stop rambling now.

I get tha problem with my ideas, too. I mean, I'll be thinking about one story and then it suddenly disappears and I start thinking about another story. My mind gets confusing. I get my stories mized up a lot, too, so we've got something in common. :)

AnimeFreaks13: Well, the others figured Robin was back because Michael's computer grabbed a signal from her cell phone/communicator thing. It's a little confusing, but it works. Thanks for reviewing.