Title: Black Fires
Chapter Word Count: 1,603
Disclaimer: I am a poor, over worked college student, I have 30 dollars to my name and I don't own anything. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: A series of Witches, stronger than any the STN-J have come across before, start to appear all over the city. The hunters begin to suspect that they aren't Witches afterall, but what else could they be? xover with Yuu Yuu Hakusho
Notes: Set shortly after Robin gets her glasses. It's been forever since I've seen WHR, so if I make mistakes please tell me. In the YYH!verse, this is post series, but the last episode never happened and Yusuke returned to the Ningenkai after the tournament. He is 17.
I am completely rewriting this story. Two reasons, one, my writing style has changed dramatically. Two, it's been over three years since I've even though about this story and I don't remember where I was planning to go with it. Thus, I am completely making this up as I go along. Forgive me.
/blah/ - Thoughts
-.-.-.-.-
Black Fires
Chapter One
What had been a dreary Wednesday was turning into an even more miserable night as the sun went down. Sunset was usually Sakaki Haruto's favorite time of day, but he couldn't help but think this night's purple and yellow sky looked more like an old bruise than a breathtaking sunset.
The rain that had been pouring down all day made the dented tin of the warehouse roof Haruto was clinging to extremely slippery and he had to scramble for handholds as the wind continued in its mission to make him fall to his death.
"Dammit. I really need to stop volunteering." He grumbled, attempting to wipe the water from his eyes before giving it up as a lost cause. The wind died down a bit and he resumed his climb towards the warehouse's broken skylight. He needed to reach it soon, or this hunt would end badly.
The witch the four STN-J field agents were hunting had proven more intelligent than their usual huntees. She had appeared out of nowhere early that afternoon and had been leading the four of them on a wild goose chase ever since. When she had suddenly stopped in the center of a deserted warehouse, all of the hunters had sensed a trap. After some conversing with Michael, Amon had decided on the "distract her while someone attacks from above" plan. Haruto, always wanting to be the center of the action, had volunteered without a second thought.
He was within arm's length of the skylight when the God of Wind decided his break was over and a particularly strong gust of wind tried to knock the rookie down. He slung his right hand out to grab on to the edge of the skylight and had to bite back a scream when broken glass dug into his palm.
When the wind died down again, he carefully pulled the rest of his body towards the opening without putting too much pressure on his injured hand. Locking his elbows over one of the few panels cleared of glass, he tapped his radio to tell the others he was in position. Then grimaced as he reached for his gun.
/Trying to aim straight without my dominate hand? This is never gonna work…/
-.-.-.-.-
Amon might have been a statue for how much he had moved since Sakaki had begun his climb. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his young partner fidgeting, her crescent glasses already perched on her nose. He already knew Karasuma was in place by the opposite door, all they were waiting on was the hot-headed rookie.
From his vantage point, behind the rotten crates just inside the main entrance, he could easily make out their target. A woman, tall and young, she had a sharp face and long, light-colored hair which seemed teal, though it was surely a trick of the light. She wore a blue kimono, with dark green lining and a white obi, and her hair was tied up in a thick, high tail. She, like Amon, hadn't moved since reaching her position
He saw Robin shift again, her gaze flitting between him, the witch and the open skylight above the witch's head. Rain had been steadily pouring into the warehouse, but the witch seemed perfectly dry, though the warehouse floor was a different matter. Large, muddy puddles had formed, both beneath the skylight and beneath the thousands of leaks in the building's roof. The piles of broken crates, like the ones the hunters hid behind, were completely soaked.
Amon's radio buzzed to life in his ear as Sakaki confirmed his position. Like he had flipped a switch, the fragile calm of the warehouse was shattered. Orbo-bullets flew towards the witch from both sides of the room and she was surrounded by a circle of red flames. Everything froze.
The witch, still in the same position, turned suddenly towards Amon and Robin, and the STN-J's leader suddenly found that he couldn't move. His body went completely numb, starting from his fingers and working its way up his arms. His gun clattered to the floor out of fingers he couldn't feel. He couldn't breath, why wasn't the orbo stopping it.
Beside him he saw Robin also skid to a stop, her body frozen in position, eyes wide behind her glasses.
He heard three shots ring out from above, but the shots were wild, each impacting the cement meters away from their target. The witch directed her attention upwards, with a start.
It was enough of a distraction for one of Karasuma's bullets to hit home. Catching the witch in the shoulder. She vanished. Disappearing as if she had never been there. Like a vice had been released Amon could breath again, both he and his partner slid to the floor as control of their bodies was returned to them. The bullets that had frozen in the air suddenly dropped to the ground and Robin's fire died out in a puff of smoke.
In less than a minute, everything had ended as quickly as it had begun, and four very stunned hunters were left staring at the center of an abandoned warehouse.
-.-.-.-.-
Michael had thoroughly checked the CCTV of the area and found nothing, so the four had headed back to Raven Flats. Some bandages, painkillers and industrial strength coffee later and they were gathered around the computer expert's desk listening to him tell them exactly what they knew. Nothing. The witch didn't exist is public records, she had never been recorded on CCTV before the incident (that Michael could find), and he couldn't find a trace of her afterwards.
It was like she didn't exist. Amon scowled. A witch who didn't exist, and whose powers wasn't effected by Orbo. Wasn't that just what they needed.
-.-.-.-.-
Karasuma Miho sighed as she headed towards the elevator, car keys in hand. The group had spent hours going through every file they could find that could even possibly be related to the case, every craft-user on record with the ability to freeze anything. It was only when Sakaki's painkiller had wore off that they realized it was well past three o'clock, Thursday morning.
Wednesday had started out as a good day. Nice weather, if a little cloudy, the air had held the smell of oncoming rain, but nowhere had she been expecting the downpour they had received. Thus, because it was a warm, sunny July morning, Miho had made the mistake of parking outside.
/Of course, this is summer in Japan/ she thought with another sigh, walking past the empty front desk and outside. She was surprised to note that the rain had stopped and most of the clouds had disappeared. It was now just a warm and humid summer night.
She had just inserted her key in the car door when she felt the temperature plummet. The puddles under her feet froze over instantly as did the raindrops that still covered her car. She gasped as the cold hit her bare arms and a cloud of moisture froze before her eyes.
A flash went off behind her eyes as her picked up a strong psychic pulse, and, when her vision had cleared the world was as it had been. It was a warm summer night, but the chill lingered on her flesh and the windows of her car were fogged over.
-.-.-.-.-
To the outside world, Sena Robin was sleeping peacefully. Her features were completely calm and she hadn't moved since she had fallen into bed half an hour before. Her dream self, however, was in a completely different state. Robin found herself standing alone in a barren field under an impossible sky. Snow fell softly from a cloudless yellow sky that seemed to have no end. The ground, stripped of topsoil, was hard and cold beneath her bare feet. In front of her, framed by ominous black mountains was what seemed to be an island floating in the sky.
Before she could take in anything else, dozens of teal-haired women appeared around her on all sides. Her hand went automatically to her pocket for her glasses, but she felt only bare skin.
As suddenly as the women had appeared, the field erupt into flames. Through the smoke she could make out more figures appearing and seeming to battle with the witches. Plants burst into life behind her, sending her sprawling to the ground. Flames broke out on all side, and suddenly, everything else was gone. There was just Robin in a circle of fire.
Holding up her hands as if to ward off the fire, she found, in the palm of her hand, a pair of crescent shaped glasses. She hurriedly slipped them on her face and called up a wall of her own fire to hold the other at bay. The strange fire consumed her own, darkened and grew into a raging black inferno.
There was nothing else she could do, it was coming at her so fast…
-.-.-.-.-
Robin sat up in bed with an outward calmness she did not feel. She could still feel the fire licking at her skin, and she lifted a hand to her face to find herself trembling. The thing that had woken her, the cell phone beside her pillow chirped for attention and Robin gingerly picked it up. Glancing at the screen she answered.
"Hello Michael."
"Robin, sorry, something happened. We need you to get down to the Flats."
She saw the time out of the corner of her eye, fifteen after four, little less than an hour since she had left Raven Flats. "I understand."